As the third largest supermarket in the UK, Sainsbury’s warehouses operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, shutting only for Christmas Day – meaning it has an enormous logistical operation. One of Sainsbury’s warehouse distribution centres is located at Waltham Point in Essex. It employs over 1,200 people, covers over 700,000 sq. ft. and delivers to 89 Sainsbury’s stores across the UK.

As products are delivered to the warehouse, they are allocated into cases and enter into the sophisticated Warehouse Control System (WCS). The WCS is a software application that directs real-time activities within the warehouse. This system is responsible for keeping everything running smoothly and maximising the efficiency of the material handling systems. The WCS tracks and sorts each case until they reach a supermarket shelf, handling up to 1.2 Billion cases a year. In the warehouse distribution centre the cases travel through 180 chutes and are sorted into product categories such as dairy and canned goods.

The Challenge

Provide the Waltham Point Sainsbury’s distribution warehouse with RS422 to Ethernet connectivity between the COM-Port on the chute-displays and the Warehouse Control System.

The Solution

+ Fit all 180 chutes with a thin, client video display as part of the Warehouse Control System.

The Result

A secure and stable connection has been established between the COM-Port on the chute displays and the Warehouse Control System using Perle Terminal Servers, enabling case and content information to be gathered at each video display. As a result, critical logistical operations at the Waltham Point Sainsbury’s distribution warehouse are optimised through the Warehouse Control System.